


The Stranger

by Fox_Wanders_Forever



Series: PMD Shorts [3]
Category: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time & Explorers of Darkness & Explorers of Sky
Genre: Gen, Jason is suspicious, but easily swayed by Emily
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-05-29
Packaged: 2020-03-29 08:51:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19016527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fox_Wanders_Forever/pseuds/Fox_Wanders_Forever
Summary: There's a new guy in town, and Jason does Not like him.





	The Stranger

Looking at the pokemon standing in front of him, Jason was reminded of his encounter with Uxie at Fogbound Lake. Uxie was small and looked harmless, but he radiated power. Despite his appearance, Jason had immediately been able to tell that he was far stronger than they were. If Uxie had wanted them dead, he would have killed them. He had no doubt that this stranger could do the same.

_This guy is dangerous._

Jason carefully stepped in front of Emily, blocking her from the stranger’s view. “Hey!” She hissed, glaring at him. “I can’t-” She broke off, looking at him curiously; some of his anxiety must be leaking on to his face. “What’s wrong?”

“That guy gives me a bad feeling.” Jason whispered back, not taking his eyes off the stranger. He didn’t seem to have noticed them yet, since he was talking with Guildmaster Wigglytuff and Chatot. Still though…

“Really? But the Guildmaster’s being so friendly with him…”

“Well, that’s the Guildmaster for you. He’s friendly with everyone, even pokemon he’s never met before!” A third voice cut across their conversation, startling the pair and making them jump, and made Jason summon an attack. He dropped it as soon as he saw who it was.

“Loudred, what the fu- heck was that for?!” Jason yelled, only barely remembering to censor himself, and getting a weird look from Emily as a result. Great.

“Whoa, calm down!” Loudred yelped, jumping away and throwing up his hands until Jason dispelled the attack. “Geez, you’re really high-strung today. You’re glaring at the great Dusknoir so hard it looks like you’re trying to set him on fire!”

_That’s pretty rich coming from one of my main sources of stress at the moment!_

“The great Dusknoir?” Emily asked. “Who is that?”

“WHAT???” Loudred yelled. His abnormally loud voice was bad enough when he was just talking; if he raised it even a little, everyone in Treasure Town was in danger of getting hearing damage. Near the entry ladder, the stranger started in surprise. Guildmaster Wigglytuff and Chatot however, (Having long since grown used to this.) were completely unfazed.

Sunflora seemed to notice however, and stormed over. “Oh my gosh, Loudred! Do you have to be so loud right now? The great Dusknoir is meeting with the Guildmaster right now!”

“Will someone please tell me who that is?”

“Oh, take a look over there.” Sunflora tapped Emily on the shoulder, and then pointed behind her with one of her leafs. “That’s the great Dusknoir!”

“He’s a new adventurer on the scene.” Loudred supplied meekly. (He seemed to be scared of her, and Jason could relate. Someone that much younger than him had no right to be that scary!) “But he’s already made a real name for himself!”

“Part of it is that he goes into dungeons solo. He never takes a team with him or anything!”

“Really, nothing?” Jason asked. Exploring dungeons was dangerous enough in a group, but all alone… “He must be really sure of his skills.”

“I know right? He’s incredible!” Sunflora had stars in her eyes as she spoke. “But that’s not even the greatest thing!”

“Really?” Emily leaned forward, hanging onto every word the older apprentice spoke. Jason felt himself begin to lean in as well, and steeled his spine.

_Your intuition hasn’t been wrong yet, and it’s saying this guy is bad news. Don’t get charmed before you can investigate for yourself!_

“Oh yes! He’s incredibly knowledgeable! They say,” Sunflora lowered her voice to a whisper,”that there’s nothing he doesn’t know!”

Emily let out an audible gasp. “Nothing?! Is this true??”

Loudred shrugged. “I have no idea. He says it’s not true, but he’s also never been wrong before…”

“Wow…” Emily looked a little starstruck as she looked at Dusknoir. “He knows everything, huh?”

_Maybe he’d know how I got here…_

At this point, Chatot noticed the small group of apprentices and headed over to them. “Everyone! The great Dusknoir is going to be staying in Treasure Town for a while! He says to feel free to ask him questions, but let’s not overdo it! We don’t want to be a bother!”

“Oh no, it would really be no trouble at all.” A very deep voice interrupted, startling everyone except Guildmaster Wigglytuff. (Who seemed to have fallen asleep… Again.) “I’m afraid that I’m really not as knowledgeable as the stories have made me seem. If any of you have a question however, I would be happy to try and answer it.” He shuffled awkwardly as he spoke, then gasped in surprise as the other apprentices hurried over to begin their onslaught. He stepped back, and Emily joined him.

“Do you think that Dusknoir would know anything about how you became a pokemon?” Emily whispered excitedly. “Do you think we should ask?”

“I don’t think I’m comfortable with telling anyone that yet.” Jason whispered back, eyeing the group in the center of the room. “And anyway, nobody has ever heard of anything like this before. I doubt he would have.” If neither Chatot nor Torkoal had ever heard of anything like this, then he doubted Dusknoir had. No matter what the rumors (And his own personal hopes.) might say.

“Still, it’s possible he might know something!” Ever the optimist, she was. “Though, if you aren’t comfortable with asking about that we don’t have to.” Emily looked over too, then gasped. “Oh, maybe he would know about your visions!”

“I doubt that even more. Though I guess we could ask later…” It wasn’t quite as personal information. Asking about that would probably suck a lot less. “Not right now though.”

Emily looked at the ever-growing group and nodded. “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. If we can catch him alone later, we’ll ask.”

She gave Jason a big hug that probably snapped his spine in a few different places, before heading back to the main group. Jason followed close behind groaning as loudly as possible about how his daughter had just tried to kill him. Emily laughed and, despite his conflicting feelings about Dusknoir, Jason got the feeling that everything was going to be okay.

_I should definitely be careful around that guy, but…_

_Maybe he’s okay after all._

**Author's Note:**

> There is actually a reason why Emily doesn't refer to Jason as dad, and I'm going to touch on that later. For now though, enjoy this ridiculous family being ridiculous together.


End file.
